In the first Best Ideas Session of day two, Brad Dunkley will take the stage.
Brad is a returning speaker and his firm has been a long-time supporter of Capitalize for Kids Foundation. He is the co-founder, chief investment officer and chief risk officer at Waratah Capital Advisors, a Toronto-based asset manager that specializes in alternative strategies and manages more than $2.8 billion in assets. Brad hails from Orillia and while ordinarily that lineage might not be a hallmark of a successful hedge fund manager, he was able to parlay his entrepreneurial youth—collecting hockey cards in small-town Ontario—into a $10,000 war chest. Trading sports cards was to become his penultimate introduction to equity investing. Brad’s 2016 pitch focused on a long of Linamar (LNR.TO) and his 2018 pitch was a long of Premium Brands Holdings (PBH.TO). The Linamar pick had a one-year price return of 46.5% and PBH was volatile but flat on a one-year basis. Will 2021 bring a pitch on the value of a Mark Carney, Harvard rookie card or a more traditional long idea?
Next to the stage is David Goel. David is a co-founder and managing general partner of Matrix Capital Management, an $8-billion investment fund focused on technology and life sciences. David is no stranger to our city as a Toronto-born investor who graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University. David believes in philanthropy and the power of the arts, as he and wife Stacey gifted $100 million in 2019 to kick off Harvard University’s effort to fund a state-of-the-art research and performance centre that will enhance the arts community in Greater Boston. Like our previously mentioned speaker Angela Aldrich, David is also a protégé of hedge fund pioneer Julian Robertson, earning him the cub title. An active philanthropist and growth-focused investor, David is sure to provide a differentiated perspective to our audience.
The third speaker from this session is Anne Dias. A Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude graduate of Georgetown University School of Foreign Service with an MBA from Harvard, Anne is the founder and CEO of Aragon Global Management, which actively invests in global equities, with a focus on the internet, media, technology and consumer sectors, as well as alternative assets. Apart from the markets, Anne has focused on philanthropic impacts in the arts and early childhood supports. Like Capitalize for Kids, Aragon deploys time and analytical firepower to solve strategic issues for a non-profit each year.
From an investing perspective, Aragon’s focus is on key megatrends and disruptive innovation—opportunities to find themes that will create or destroy value over the next three to five years. Aragon was founded in 2001, with initial capital from Julian Robertson of the Tiger Fund. Anne is the third Tiger Cub to hit the stage, creating a theme among our speakers. Will these cubs befriend a bull or a bear? Purchase your ticket to find out!